Mine
by fiesa
Summary: Briefings gave John Stillman the opportunity to check onto his people closely enough without anyone noticing it. And today, Scotty was behaving oddly. OneShot.


_A/N_

_I just figured I am posting another Cold Case fic with a quite similar topic again... Hm, I figure I just have to translate more of my fan fictions to English so I´ll have a greater assortment to post from!^^ _

_I hope you like this one, though. It´s what I think Scotty should __already __have done during fourth or fifth season... Sigh. _

_Disclaimer: I don´t own Cold Case. It´s too late to think of witty responses. Sorry._

_*edit* 02/20/2010_

_Hey - bloodredcherry actually found the one word I was unsure about! Of course she´s right, it´s "Narcotics" and not "Drugs". Stupid German^^ I corrected it, anyway, and thanks again!  
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Cold Case – Spring. Mine Alone

Briefings had been invented to coordinate.

To coordinate people.

"People" could be defined as a family, as a circle of friends, as colleagues, as people working in the same job and in the same department or simply as different persons wanting to plan and coordinate their proceedings and next steps. Plans, coordination – coordination was good, was half of the work, helped to keep track of things and to fight the continuously growing distractions and arising problems.

To Lilly Rush, briefings were part of tradition, of family tradition. During these meetings with her boss and her colleagues she was able to adapt to the feeling that everything was fine – that some things just didn`t change. They were her markers, her fixed stars during exhausting daily routine, and she was able to cling to them whenever she felt she was being overwhelmed by problems.

To Kat Miller, briefings were her way of starting into daily routine in a proper, non-hectic kind of way. Every morning she fought a pointless war to wake Veronica and getting her daughter ready for school as well as herself ready for her job, she prepared the breakfast between brushing her teeth and packing a lunchbox and finally – and mostly just on time – delivered her daughter to Primary School. Every morning, she needed creativity and endless energy. During briefings, she was able to calm down. That was why she liked them.

Will Jeffries used briefings as a source of strength for the day. He could always do with some extra energy – especially seeing the fact that he wasn`t young any more.

Nick Vera needed briefings to wake up entirely. Only after briefings – and after two to three cups of steaming black coffee and one or two donuts – he felt ready to tackle every case they would give him.

John Stillman was thankful, for briefings gave him the opportunity to check onto his people closely enough without anyone noticing it. Lil always seemed as if she hadn`t slept at all and was trying to escape her demons by throwing herself into work head-first. Kat seemed as if she had forgotten something incredibly important again, Will, as if he was preparing mentally for the day and Nick, as if he still was sleeping. And Scotty – normally, Scotty seemed to simply enjoy briefings and the opportunity of seeing all his friends and colleagues. Stillman always noticed if anything – or anyone – was different…

And today, it was Scotty.

Yes, Scott Valens… Normally, briefings were a perfect way to start into a new day. He had a job which he loved to do, he worked together with people whom he liked, listened to Vera and Jeffries making dirty jokes and Miller telling a quiet Lil what Veronica had said and done. Also, in the morning, Lil was more beautiful than ever – that was why he liked briefings. But not today.

_Absolutely not today_.

For the fourth or fifth time, Lil threw her partner a surprised look. Against his normal behavior, he didn`t stand behind or next to her chair, listening intently to what the boss was saying, but was sitting on his own chair and spent time turning back and forth. The chair emitted a screeching noise every time he leaned back, not loud enough to disrupt them but definitely loud enough to irritate the assembled detectives. Funnily enough, she missed his calming presence behind her, his concentrated face. Today, his expression was one of the sorts that just seemed to shout "Watch out!"; warning anyone to just try to talk to him – for the next six weeks, at least. His entire demeanor just screamed out his bad mood, bad mood because something was annoying him – and Lil just didn`t know what it was.

At one point John Stillman`s eyes left the file he was reading out loud from, interrupted his speech and fixed his gaze on Scotty`s face.

"Is everything okay, Scotty?"

The dark face came up. Brown eyes were glowing.

"What? Oh, yes, Boss, everything`s fine."

His expression showed neither boredom nor bad mood but only silent accusation. His eyes focused on Stillman shortly and swept on to Lil`s.

Immediately, she felt tension rising in her chest and was unable to avert her eyes. Scotty was angry – angry with _her, _to be precise. But why? And why with her? What had she done? She couldn`t remember anything she had said or done to make him angry...

Kat used her elbow to nudge her side and Lil turned around abruptly. But instead of explaining anything, her friend just rolled her eyes knowingly. Seemingly, she had already made her assumptions as to why Scotty`s mood was down, assumptions which Lil couldn`t follow or just couldn`t make by herself. But neither she nor Scotty gave any explanations and while Kat continued reading the file, Scotty turned his chair and started making it go up and down for the next minutes of total silence. Stillman`s eyebrows just shot upwards and he continued in his monologue as if nothing had happened.

"That`s how we`ll get him!", Vera shouted out loud triumphantly ten minutes later. "Jeffries and I can get his son, shall we, Boss?"

Stillman nodded. "Scotty and Kat pay a visit to the widow – the would-be-widow. Probably she`s still trying to cover her husband. But he`s not dead, and he surely is guilty. Lil – you`ll talk to the victim`s sister. Find that damn guy! Tonight, I want him in a cell down here!"

When he finished, Lil got up. "I`ll just get my jacket", she said and headed off to the break room. The heavy door closed soundly behind her.

Scotty was still wearing a face which showed his contempt clearly. As soon as Lil was out of ear range, he exploded: "That`s so annoying!"

"Pardon me?" Stillman´s brows rose even further up than they already had.

"It`s so annoying!", the dark-haired man repeated. His eyes were burning like black coals. „Why the heck do Lil and Miller work together, Lil and Vera, Lil and anyone else – except Lil and me?"

"I didn`t know you felt that way, Scotty." Stillman`s voice was calm. "I thought you would prefer a little… break in your partnership, seeing that…"

"Bullshit!"; Scotty exploded a second time and jumped up from his chair to glower at his boss and colleagues. "When I came here from Narcotics, I was told I was supposed to be her partner! And now, she`s been partnered with Miller more often than with me, you even send her out alone – If you want to rearrange partnerships, tell us, but until you haven`t done that, let me do my work as her partner and be her back-up!"

Fascinated, Vera, Miller and Jeffries watched him in his tirade.

"Calm down, Scotty", Stillman said quietly. "If you insist, you will be partnered with Rush again tomorrow. Would that be an acceptable solution?"

Scotty`s eyes still were smoldering dangerously and he started to say something, but then the door of the break room opened and Lil returned, her jacket in one and the files in her other hand. She stopped dead the moment she felt the tension in the room. All eyes went to meet hers.

"What`s the matter?", she asked confused. But Kat made a gesture to stop her and she closed her mouth. Irritated, her eyes kept wandering from Vera to Jeffries, from Jeffries to Scotty and from Scotty to Stillman. Scotty`s eyes were hard with resolution. But not even Stillman seemed to be ready to tell her what was going on – only a ghost of a smile seemed to dance around his lips.

"No", Scotty suddenly said, his voice as hard as his eyes and absolutely determined. He scared Lil when he suddenly grabbed her arm hard. "No", he repeated into the direction of where the boss was standing. "Tomorrow is no solution. We`ll go today."

And with one movement, he spun around and made for the exit of the room. Lil towed helplessly behind him, still not knowing what was going on.

"We`ll visit the widow", Scotty called over his shoulder. There was a deep satisfaction in his voice which he didn`t care to hide. Had he thrown back as much as a look, he would have seen Stillman, Miller, Jeffries and Vera share a satisfied glance as well...

But not even they saw the smile on Lil`s face.

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_If you have a minute, please leave your opinion... I´d love to hear it! And - Thank you for reading._


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